6. Meanwhile

The French president has vowed to trim public spending and simplify France's huge public sector during a speech in which he told a pessimistic nation "decline is not our destiny".

François Hollande, who was elected six months ago after opposing Europe's one-size-fits-all austerity, admitted cuts were needed in the public sector, which comprises more than half of the French economy. Amid rare criticism from the left on public spending, which is among the highest in the continent, he said France "should be capable of doing better, in spending less".

At his first official press conference at the Élysée, a set-piece of every French presidency, he urged the nation to stand together during the economic crisis.

The stakes were particularly high for Hollande, whose approval ratings have plummeted recently to make him France's least liked president in the half year after an election.